Slurry hydroconversion provides a method for conversion of high boiling, low value petroleum fractions into higher value liquid products. Slurry hydroconversion technology can process difficult feeds, such as feeds with high CCR weights, while still maintaining high liquid yields. In addition to vacuum resid feeds, slurry hydroconversion units have been used to process other challenging streams present in refinery/petrochemical complexes such as deasphalted rock, steam cracked tar, and visbreaker tar.
Various slurry hydroconversion configurations have previously been described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,955 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/01222939 provide examples of configurations for performing slurry hydroconversion. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0210045 also describes examples of configurations for slurry hydroconversion, including examples of configurations where the heavy oil feed is diluted with a stream having a lower boiling point range, such as a vacuum gas oil stream and/or catalytic cracking slurry oil stream, and examples of configurations where a bottoms portion of the product from slurry hydroconversion is recycled to the slurry hydroconversion reactor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,727 describes a method for preparing a catalyst, which is similarly referenced in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,288,681 and 5,474,977. The method involves introducing a metal and a heteropolyacid into an oil feed. The feed is then heated to form an organometallic compound, which is then converted to a catalyst under hydroconversion conditions. The metal is described as an oxide, sulfide, or salt of a Group IV to Group VIII metal. The heteropolyacid can be phosphomolybdic acid in an amount, expressed as Mo, of 0.01 wt % to 2 wt %.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,277,638 describes a method for conversion of heavy oil fractions in the presence of an iron sulfide catalyst that is formed from iron oxide in the presence of hydrogen and sulfur. The catalyst is described as being suitable for conversion of about 85% of the pitch or heavy portion of a feed.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0112593 describes a reaction system for performing slurry hydroconversion on a deasphalted heavy oil feed. The asphalt from a deasphalting process and a portion of the unconverted material from the slurry hydroconversion can be gasified to form hydrogen and carbon oxides.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0374314 describes methods for slurry hydroconversion of heavy oil feeds. In some aspects, a catalyst system comprising co-catalysts containing Mo and Fe can be used for slurry hydroconversion.